"I Think Of Pirates As A Marketplace" is the grabber headline of an interview with John Riccitiello on Kotaku, where the EA CEO discusses the growing trend of using DLC as a fulcrum to prevent piracy and curtail used-game sales. He says "They can steal the disc, but they can't steal the DLC," though a later update acknowledges that piracy of DLC is not actually unheard of. "I don't think anybody should pirate anything," Riccitiello clarifies. "I believe in the artistry of the people who build [the games industry.] I profoundly believe that. And when you steal from us, you steal from them. Having said that, there's a lot of people who do."

Speaking with a friend at another development house, about exactly twice as many people on XBL had played their most recent game as copies were sold on the platform. Alright, you can chalk quite a few of those up to people that have multiple gamertags on the same system so they only need one copy, of people going over to friends' houses and logging into their Live account (which isn't too common, given how much of a hassle it is.) The rest are used game sales.

How many of those people purchasing used would have purchased new? Impossible to say. But, considering GameStop sells the title for $5 less than new, I'd venture most. The difference is that, at $35, GameStop makes about $15-$20 profit and his company make $0. At $40 GameStop makes about $5 profit and his company make "more than that."

Is this a big deal? Personally I think so. It's GameStop stealing sales. And the result is that the industry will devalue used games. Free DLC in-box is the main way to combat it. A valid way, in my opinion.